Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-07-03

III never strike another lict -,
as long as live" And he th,sw da'sg
a steel bar which he held IN M. I'm In
with a force that made il rattle and " "'
upon the hard, smooth rock Uailg
90 was as good az bis word ,a.
.non as we could get settled nm he ~' 10
for the East. | think he corlJ \ l 's''
stood our failure, but the Profe, ao
wonderful success coming riqh, on
OF II rather turned him inside an, "P
When the Captain threw down A..
bar We oil made for the camp 10 loop
at the Professors gold, which he IoS
semitic pay John back bis fee. Tbe,a
is O good deal OF character in cola :,
every placer miner knows. thirt
have seen dust" from nearly cyerv
camp from Manposa 70 sal,
yen, but never saw the M,
OF that. II looked bewitched a
WIS coarse, smooth. washed. VIM
kled, burned, stained. and what no,
Some Of 1t looked like nothing 50 much
as lot Of usod-up old coins. worn
smooth 10 delsc6ment by some cK,ipr,
and forgotten race, yet with illee.be
inscriptions which We could no, be,,
studying to decipher, although Va
knew, Of course, that nature, not man
had so inscribed them. And the I'M.
preston was-the conviction, ! miyht
say-tbat there remained plenty Of
mere whore that came from.
We were very solemn crowd. No
body had much 10 say about il. strange
To tell, but We spread the gold out on a
tray on the old meSs.tsble and made A
toloIably fair division Of 1t. every man
Of us taking little, for the Doctor hal
sent us an even pound troy. One It,
tie piece, about the size and shape Of
Gillian medic, wear on my watch.
guard to this day.
After this most Of the boys dropped
of one by one until only Harry ami
vereleft. Wefoundal little creyice the
bed of the stream, few feet wide only.
which proved quite rich, and. working
it up patiently, we made ont nearly ~
well perhaps, after all, as though We
had struck the "doad-sure thing %
and had forty TO divide it among.
But the Professor made an cnor.
nous pile, for Jake's description,
brilliant AS il was, fell short Of
the truth. BY wonderful roke
of luck the tunnel had been driven lust
level with the bottom Of the "ancient
channel" There had been a fall IN
the river near that spot, the Doctor
explained, for on drifting up stream he
found the ledge rising like wall aud
| il must have been narrow at that point,
for they soon struck the rim on the OPP
posite side. But it had acted just Ike
rifle, IA the Professor showed IA,
making q drawing for the purpose.
The stream had poured over with a
rush, leaving the heaviest Of the goll
TO settle undisturbed upon that narros
ledge.
One Sunday, late in the fall, Harry
and | went up To the ranch ~ usual
The Professor had gone, the Swcde,
told us sold out to them and gone
home He had left in the night, con
cealing his departure for fear Of rob
berry. for though he had sent down
stacks of gold every week 10y stage, he
still had considerable with him. beside
certificates of deposit and other yalu
able papers. We found. also. a not
from the Doctor, bidding us mo-,
KIND adieu, but leaving 40 clew what
ever 70 his destination.
did You ever see such rlght.dowI
crazy fools luck = said Harry to me-
"to come right up here thousands o
feet-noarly TO the top OF the noun
tain What could have possessed th
old man? But he must have made
IRENE ndous cleanup; what with In
doctoring, his ranch, his horses to hir'
bis tight bargains, and, at last, tine ral
Of his place, he must have done prctt
well for crazy man
But perhaps he wasn't crazy ate
all-rerhaps be knew" said the Swed,
locking at us in his calm, open'eye'
simple way. .,
"What do you think about it